LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

University  of  California. 

.1 


Class 


i.-'- 


THE    DUKE 
OF   GANDIA 

ALGERNON    CHARLES 
SWINBURNE 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 
MCM  VII  I 

Copyright,  1908,  by  Harper  &  Brothbrs. 

All  rights  reserved. 
Published  April,  1908. 


PERSONS  REPRESENTED 

POPE   ALEXANDER  VI. 

FRANCESCO   BORGIA,  Duke  of  Gandiaj 

\      his  sons. 
C-ESAR    BORGIA,  Cardinal  of  Valencia    / 

DON  MICHELE  COREGLIA,  called  MICHELOTTO, 
agent  for  Cassar  Borgia. 

GIORGIO    SCHIAVONE,  a  Tiber  waterman. 

TWO    ASSASSINS. 

AN    OFFICER  of  the  papal  household. 

VANNOZZA  CATANEI,  surnamed  LA  ROSA,  concu- 
bine to  the  Pope. 

LUCREZIA  BORGIA,  daughter  to  Alexander  and 
Vannozza. 

Scene:   ROME 
Time:   June  14— July  22,  1497. 


THE    DUKE    OF    GANDIA 


THE    DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

SCENE  I 

The  Vatican 

Enter  C.ESAR  and  VANNOZZA 

C^SAR 

Now,  mother,  though  thou  love  my  brother  more. 
Am  I  not  more  thy  son  than  he? 

VANNOZZA 

Not  more. 

C^SAR 

Have  I  more  Spaniard  in  me — less  of  thee? 
Did  oar  Most  Holiest  father  thrill  thy  womb 
[7] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

With  more  Italian  passion  than  brought  forth 
Me? 


VANNOZZA 

Qiild,  thine  elder  never  was  as  thoo — 
Spake  never  thtis. 

CJESAR 

I  dotibt  it  not.     But  I, 
Mother,  am  not  mine  elder.     He  desires 
And  he  enjoys  the  life  God  gives  Iiim — God, 
The  Pope  owr  father,  and  thy  sacred  self. 
Mother  beloved  and  hallowed.     I  desire 
More. 

VANNOZZA 

Thott  wast  ever  sleepless  as  the  wind- 
A  child  anhungered  for  thy  time  to  be 
[8] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Man.     See  thy  ptfrple  about  thee.    Art  thott  not 
Cardinal? 

C^SAR 

Ay;  my  father's  eminence 
Set  so  the  stamp  on  mine.     I  will  not  die 
Cardinal. 

VANNOZZA 

Ccesar,  wilt  thou  cleave  my  heart? 
Have  I  not  loved  thee? 

CuESAR 

Ay,  fair  mother — ay. 
Thou  hast  loved  my  father  likewise.    Dost  thot*  love 
Gitilia — the  sweet  Farnese — called  the  Fair 
In  all  the  Roman  streets  that  call  thee  Rose? 
And  that  bright  babe  Giovanni,  whom  otir  sire, 
[9] 


THE    DUKE   OF   GANDIA 


Thy  holy  lord  and  hers,  hath  stamped  at  birth 
As  dwke  of  Nepi? 

VANNOZZA 

When  thy  sire  begat 
Thee,  sinful  though  he  ever  was — fierce,  fell, 
Spaniard — I  fear  me,  Jesus  for  his  sins 
Bade  Satan  pass  into  him. 

C^SAR 

And  fill  thee  full. 
Sweet  sinless  mother.     Fear  it  not.     Thou  hast 
Children  more  loved  of  him  and  thee  than  me — 
Our  bright  Francesco,  born  to  smile  and  sway. 
And  her  whose  face  makes  pale  the  sun  in  heaven. 
Whose  eyes  outlaugh  the  splendor  of  the  sea. 
Whose  hair  has  all  noon^s  wonders  in  its  weft. 
Whose  mouth  is  God's  and  Italy's  one  rose, 
Lucrezia. 

[iO] 


THE    DUKE    OF   GANDIA 

VANNOZZA 

Dost  thow  love  them  then?    My  child, 
How  should  not  I  then  love  thee? 

C^SAR 

God  alone 
Knows.     Was  not  God — the  God  of  love,  who  bade 
His  son  be  man  because  he  hated  man. 
And  saw  him  scourged  and  hanging,  and  at  last 
Forgave  the  sin  wherewith  he  had  stamped  tis,  seeing 
So  fair  a  fall  atonement — was  not  God 
Bridesman  when  Christ's  crowned  vicar  took  to  bride 
My  mother? 

VANNOZZA 

Speak  not  thou  to  me  of  God. 
I  have  sinned,  I  have  sinned — I  would  I  had  died  a 

nun, 
Qoistered! 

in] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 


CiESAR 

There  too  my  sire  had  found  thee.     Priests 
Make  way  where  warriors  dare  not — save  when  war 
Sets  wide  the  floodgates  of  the  weirs  of  hell. 
And  what  hast  thou  to  do  with  sin?     Hath  he 
Whose  sin  was  thine  not  given  thee  there  and  then 
God's  actual  absolution?    Mary  lived 
God's  virgin^  and  God's  mother:    mine  art  thou, 
Who  am  Christlike  even  as  thou  art  virginal. 
And  if  thou  love  me  or  love  me  not  God  knows, 
And  God,  who  made  me  and  my  sire  and  thee, 
May  take  the  charge  upon  him.     I  am  I. 
Somewhat  I  think  to  do  before  my  day 
Pass  from  me.     Did  I  love  thee  not  at  all, 
I  would  not  bid  thee  know  it. 

VANNOZZA 

Alas,  my  son! 
[12] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 
C^SAR 

AlaSt  my  mother,  sounds  no  sense  for  men — 
Rings  but  reverberate  folly,  whence  resounds 
Returning  laughter.     Weep  or  smile  on  me. 
Thy  sunshine  or  thy  rainbow  softens  not 
The  mortal  earth  wherein  thou  hast  clad  me.     Nay, 
But  rather  would  I  see  thee  smile  than  weep. 
Mother.    Thou  art  lovelier,  smiling. 

VANNOZZA 

What  is  this 
Thou  hast  at  heart  to  do?    God's  judgment  hangs 
Above  us.     I  that  girdled  thee  in  me 
As  Mary  girdled  Jesus  yet  unborn 
— Thou  dost  believe  it?     A  creedless  heretic 
Thou  are  not? 

CESAR 

I?    God's  vicar's  child? 
[I3f 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

VANNOZZA 

Be  God 

Praised!     I,  then,  I,  thy  mother,  bid  thee,  pray, 
Pray  thee  btit  say  what  hungers  in  thy  heart. 
And  whither  thou  wouldst  hurl  the  strenuous  life 
That  works  within  thee. 

C^SAR 

Whither?    Am  not  I 
Hinge  of  the  gate  that  opens  heaven — that  bids 
God  open  when  my  sire  thrusts  in  the  key — 
Cardinal?     Canst  thou  dream  I  had  rather  be 
Duke? 

Enter  FRANCESCO 

FRANCESCO 

Wilt  thou  take  mine  office,  Caesar  mine? 
I  heard  thy  laugh  deride  it.     Mother,  whence 
[14] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

GDmes  that  sweet  gift  of  grace  from  dawn  to  dawn 
That  daily  shows  thee  sweeter? 


CESAR 

Knowest  thoa  none 
Lovelier? 

VANNOZZA 

My  Cajsar  finds  me  not  so  fair. 
Thou  art  over  fond,  Francesco. 

CiESAR 

Nay,  no  whit, 
0«r  heavenly  father  on  earth  adores  no  less 
Our  mother  than  our  sister:    and  I  hold 
KKs  heart  and  eye,  his  spirit  and  Iiis  sense. 
Infallible. 

[15] 


THE    DUKE    OF    GANDIA 
Enters  the  POPE 

ALEXANDER 

Jest  not  with  God.     I  heard 
A  holy  word,  a  hallowing  epithet, 
Cardinal  Cassar,  trip  across  thy  tongue 
Lightly. 

C^SAR 

Most  holiest  father,  I  desire 
Paternal  absolution — when  thy  laugh 
Has  waned  from  lip  and  eyelid. 

ALEXANDER 

Take  it  now. 
And  Christ  preserve  thee,  Caesar,  as  thou  art. 
To  serve  him  as  I  serve  him.     Rose  of  mine. 
My  rose  of  roses,  whence  has  fallen  this  dew 
That  dims  the  sweetest  eyes  love  ever  lit 
With  light  that  mocks  the  morning? 
[16] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

VANNOZZA 

Nay,  my  lord, 
I  know  not — nay,  I  knew  not  if  I  wept. 

ALEXANDER 

Otir  sons  and  Christ's  and  Peter's  whom  we  praise. 
Are  they — are  these — fallen  out? 

FRANCESCO 

Not  I  with  fiim. 
Nor  he,  I  think,  with  mc. 

C^SAR 

Forbid  it,  God ! 
The  God  that  set  thee  where  thou  art,  and  there 
Sustains  thee,  bids  the  love  he  kindles  bind 
Brother  to  brother* 

[17] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

God  or  no  God,  man 
Must  live  and  let  man  live — while  one  man's  life 
Galls  not  another's.    Fools  and  fiends  are  men 
Who  play  the  fiend  that  is  not»     Why  shouldst  thoo. 
Gift  with  the  girdle  of  the  Church,  and  given 
Power  to  preside  on  spirit  and  flesh — or  thou, 
Qothed  with  the  glad  world's  glory — priest  or  prince, 
Turn  on  thy  brother  an  evil  eye,  or  deem 
Your  father  God  hath  dealt  fiis  doom  amiss 
Toward  either  or  toward  any?    Hath  not  Rome, 
Hath  not  the  Lord  Christ's  kingdom,  where  his  will 
Is  done  on  earth,  enough  of  all  that  man 
Thirsts,    hungers,   lusts   for  —  pleasur^   pride,   and 

power — 
To  sate  you  and  to  share  between  you?    Whence 
Should  she,  the  godless  heathen's  goddess  once. 
Discord,  heave  up  her  hissing  head  again 
Between  love's  Christian  children — love's?  Hath  God 
Cut  short  the  thrill  that  glorifies  the  flesh, 
[18] 


THE   DUKE    OF   GANDIA 

Chilled  the  sharp  rapturous  pang  that  burns  the 

blood. 
Because  an  hundred  even  as  twain  at  once 
Partake  it?     Boys,  my  boys,  be  wise,  and  rest. 
Whatever  fire  take  hold  upon  your  flesh. 
Whatever  dream  set  all  your  life  on  fire. 
Friends. 

C-SSAR 
Friends?    Our  father  on  earth,  thy  will  be  done. 

FRANCESCO 
Christ's  body,  Caesar!    dost  thou  mock? 

C-ESAR 

Not  I. 
Hast  thou  fallen  out  with  me,  then,  that  thy  tongue 
Disclaims  its  lingering  utterance? 
[19] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Now,  by  notight. 
As  nought  abides  to  swear  by,  folly  seen 
So  plain  and  heard  so  Io«d  might  wellnigh  make 
Wise  men  believe  in  even  the  devil  and  God. 
What  ails  you?     Whence  comes  lightning  in  your 

eyes. 
With  hissing  hints  of  thunder  on  your  lips? 
Fools!    and  the  fools  I  thought  to  make  for  men 
Gods,    Is  it  love  or  hate  divides  you — turns 
Tooth,  fang,  or  claw,  when  time  provides  them  prey. 
To  nip,  rip,  rend  each  other? 

C-S:SAR 

Hate  or  love, 
Francesco  ? 

FRANCESCO 

Why,  I  hate  thee  not — thou  knowest 
I  hate  thee  not,  my  Caesar. 
[20] 


THE    DUKE    OF   GANDIA 

C^SAR 

I  believe 
Thoa  dost  not  hate  or  love  or  envy  me; 
Even  as  I  know,  and  knowing  believe,  we  all — 
0«r  father,  thoti  and  I — triune  in  heart — 
Hold  loveliest  of  all  living  things  to  love 
This. 

Enter  LUCREZIA 

LUCREZIA 

Mother!    What  do  tears  and  thoa  for  once 
Together?     Rain  in  sunshine? 

VANNOZZA 

Ask  thy  sire. 
Am  I  not  now  the  moon?     Saint  Anna  bore 
Saint  Mary  Virgin — did  not  God  prefer 
The  child,  and  thr«st  behind  with  scarce  a  smile 
The  mother? 

[21] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Thrust  not  o«t  thy  thorns  at  Heaven, 
Rose. 

LUCREZIA 
Btit  what  ailed  her?    And  she  will  not  say. 

C^SAR 

Sister,  I  sinned — sin  must  be  mine.    A  word 
Fell  out  askance  between  «s,  and  she  wept 
Because  our  father  chid  us. 

LUCREZIA 

How  should  strife 
Find  here  a  tongue  to  hiss  with?    Are  not  we. 
Brothers  and  sire  and  sister,  sealed  of  God 
Lovers — made  one  in  love? 
[22] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Deride  not  God^ 
Lucrezia* 

LUCREZIA 
Father,  dost  thou  fear  him,  then? 

ALEXANDER 
I  say  not  and  I  know  not  if  I  fear. 

FRANCESCO 

Tho«  canst  not.    Father,  were  he  terrible, 
How  long  wouldst  tho«  live  —  thou,  his  mask  on 
earth? 

ALEXANDER 

Boy,  art  thou  all  a  child?    What  knew  they  more. 
The  men  that  loved  and  feared  and  died  for  God, 
[23] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Than  I  and  thott  who  know  him  not?     We  know 
This  life  is  ours,  and  sweet,  if  shame  and  fear 
Make  us  not  less  than  man:    and  less  were  they 
Who  crawled  and  writhed  and  cowered  and  called  on 

God. 
To  save  them  from  him.     Here  I  stand  as  he, 
God,  or  God's  very  figure  wrought  in  flesh. 
More  godlike  than  was  Jesus.     Dare  I  fear 
Whipping  and  hanging?    Thou,  my  cardinal. 
Canst  think  not  to  be  scourged  and  crucified — 
Ha? 

CESAR 

Nay:  there  lurks  no  God  in  me.     And  thou. 
Father,  dost  thou  fear? 

ALEXANDER 

I?    Nought  less  than  God, 
But  if  we  take  him  lightly  on  our  lips 
[24] 


THE    DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Too  light  his  name  will  sound  in  all  men's  ears 
Till  earth  and  air,  when  man  says  God,  respond 
Laughter,    Forbear  him. 

C^SAR 

Wisdom  lives  in  thee. 
And  cries  not  out  along  the  streets  as  when 
None  of  God's  folk  that  heard  regarded  her. 
As  all  that  hear  thy  word  regard — or  die. 
Being  not  outside  God's  eyeshot.    Dost  thou  sleep 
Here  in  his  special  keeping — here — to-night. 
Brother? 

FRANCESCO 
What  bids  thee  care  to  know? 

C^SAR 

They  say 

These  holy  streets  of  Heaven's  most  holiest  choice 
125] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Lie  dangerous  now  in  darkness  if  a  man 
Walk  not  on  holiest  errands.    Tho«,  they  say, 
Wert  scarce  a  Christlike  sacrifice  if  slain* 
Too  many  dead  flow  down  the  Tiber's  flow 
Nightly.    They  say  it. 


FRANCESCO 

I  never  called  thee  yet 
Fool. 

C^SAR 

Ah,  my  lord  and  brother,  didst  thotJ  now. 
Were  tliis  not  thankless?    God — our  father's  God — 
Guide  theel  [Exit  FRANCESCO. 

He  goes,  and  thanks  me  not.     Oar  sire, 
What  says  the  God  that  lives  upon  thy  lips 
And  withers  in  thy  silence? 
[26] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

LUCREZIA 

Vex  him  not, 
Cssar.    Thou  seest  he  is  weary. 


ALEXANDER 

Yea.    Come  ye 
With  me.    Bethink  thee,  Caesar.    Vex  me  not. 
[Exeunt  ALEXANDER,  VANNOZZA,  and  LUCREZIA. 

C^SAR 

Tho«  wilt  not  bid  me  this,  I  think,  again, 
Father. 

Enter  MiCHELOTTO 

Thow  art  swift  of  speed  at  need.    I  bade  thee 
Abide  my  bidding. 

[27] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

MICHELOTTO 

Till  my  lord  were  left 
Alone. 

CiESAR 
Tho«  knewest  it? 


MICHELOTTO 

Where  my  lord  may  be 
And  what  beseems  his  thrall  to  know  of  him 
I  were  not  worthy,  knew  I  not,  to  know. 


C-ESAR 

I  do  not  ask  thee  where  my  brother  sleeps. 
And  where  to-morrow  sees  him  yet  asleep — 
[28] 


■VER3;- 

OF 

THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 


MICHELOTTO 
Ask  of  the  fishers'  nets  on  Tiber, 

C-S:SAR 

Nay— 
Not  I  but  Rome  shall  ask  it.     Pass  in  peace. 
The  benediction  of  my  sire  be  thine.  [ExeunL 


SCENE    II 

A  narro<w  street  opening  on  the  Tiber' 

Enter  MiCHELOTTO  and  ASSASSINS 

MICHELOTTO 
Ye  know  the  lordlier  harlot's  house — there? 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Ay, 

Surely. 

MICHELOTTO 

The  first  whose  foot  comes  forth  is  he. 
[3n 


THE    DUKE    OF    GANDIA 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 
How  know  we  this? 

MICHELOTTO 

I  know  it.     Ye  need  but  slay. 
[ExiL 

Enter  FRANCESCO 

FRANCESCO   {singing) 

Love  and  night  are  life  and  light; 

Sleep  and  wine  and  song 
Speed  and  slay  the  halting  day 

Ere  it  live  too  long. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

That  shalt  not  thou.     Sing,  whosoe'er  tho«  be, 
Thy  next  of  songs  to  Satan. 

[They  stab  him* 
[32] 


THE    DUKE    OF   GANDIA 
FRANCESCO 

Dogs!     Ye  dare? 
God!     Pity  me!    God!  [Dies, 


SECOND   ASSASSIN 

God  receive  his  soal! 
This  was  a  Christian:    many  a  man  I  have  slain 
Died  with  all  hell  between  his  lips. 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

Be  thine 
Dumb.     Lift  his  feet  as  I  the  head. 

SECOND   ASSASSIN 

A  boy! 
And  fair  of  face  as  angels. 
[33] 


THE    DUKE    OF    GANDIA 

FIRST   ASSASSIN 

If  the  nets 
Snare  not  this  fish  betimes  ere  others  feed. 
None  that  shall  heave  it  airward  for  the  sun 
To  mock  and  mar  shall  say  so.     Bring  tiim  down. 
Tiber  hath  fed  on  choicer  fare  than  we 
May  tliink  to  feed  his  throat  with  ere  we  die. 

[Exeunt  Tviih  the  body. 


SCENE    III 
The  Vatican 

Alexander  and  Lucrezia 

ALEXANDER 

The  day  bums  high.     Tho«  hast  not  seen  them- 
thou? 

LUCREZIA 
My  brethren,  sire?     Nay,  not  since  yesternight. 

ALEXANDER 

The  night  is  newly  dead.     Since  yestercven? 
[35] 


THE   DUKE    OF    GANDIA 
LUCREZIA 

Nor  then.     I  saw  them  when  we  parted  here 
Last. 

ALEXANDER 

I  believe  tho«  liest  not.    Girl,  the  day 
Looks  pale  before  thy  glory.    Brow,  cheek,  eye. 
Lips,  throat,  and  bosom,  thou  dost  overshine 
All  womanhood  man  ever  worshipped.     Once 
I  held  thy  mother  fairest  born  of  all 
That  ever  turned  old  Rome  to  heaven.     Tho«  hast 

read 
Her  golden  Horace? 


LUCREZIA 

Else  were  I  cast  out 
From  all  their  choir  who  serve  the  Muses. 
[361 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Ay. 
"  Fair  mother's  fairer  daughtert"  dost  thou  deem 
That  praise  was  ever  merited  as  by  thee? 
I  cannot. 

LUCREZIA 

I  concern  myself  no  whit 
If  so  it  were  or  were  not. 

ALEXANDER 

Thou  dost  well. 
Thou  hast  not  seen,  thou  sayest,  Francesco? 

LUCREZIA 

Nay- 
Give  me  some  reliquary  to  swear  it  on — 
Some  rosary — crucifix  or  amulet, 
Sorcerous  or  sacred. 

[37] 


THE    DUKE    OF   GANDIA 


ALEXANDER 

Never  twins  were  bom 
More  like  than  thou  and  he — nor  lovelier:    yet 
No  twins  were  ye. 

LUCREZIA 

What  ails  thy  Holiness? 

ALEXANDER 

I  am  ill  at  ease:    my  heart  is  sick.     Last  night 
No  revel  here  was  held,  and  yet  the  day 
Strikes  heavier  on  me  wearier,  body  and  soul. 
Than  though  we  had  rioted  out  with  raging  mirth 
The  lifelong  length  of  darkness. 

LUCREZIA 

Evil  hours 
Fret  some  whiles  all  folk  living;    none  sees  why: 
No  child  sleeps  always  all  night  long. 
[38] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Wast  thott 
Wakeful?    No  trouble  clang  about  thee?    Nought 
Made  the  air  of  night  heavier  with  presage  felt 
As  joy  feels  fear  and  withers?     I  am  not 
Afraid:    methinks  I  am  very  fear  itself. 

Enter  an  Officer  of  the  household 

OFFICER 
His  Holiness  be  gracious  toward  me. 

ALEXANDER 

Speak. 
Thy  face  is  death's:    let  death  upon  thy  lips 
Live. 

OFFICER 

Sire,  the  humblest  hireling  knave  in  Rome — 
A  waterman  that  plies  his  craft  all  night — 
Craves  audience  even  of  thee. 
[39] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

A  Roman? 

OFFICER 

Nay. 
Some  otttlander — some  Greek — they  call  the  knave 
George  the  Slavonian. 

ALEXANDER 
They? 

OFFICER 

The  fisherfolk 
On  Tiber. 

ALEXANDER 

Bid  him  in:    bid  God  himself 
Come  in  with  doom  upon  me.  [Exit  Officer* 

Hear'st  thou,  child — 
Daughter? 

[40] 


THE    DUKE    OF    GANDIA 

LUCREZIA 
What  horror  hangs  on  thee? 

ALEXANDER 

Abide, 
And  thou  shalt  know  as  I  know. 

Enter  GIORGIO  SCHIAVONE 

Speak.    I  say. 
Speak.    What  thoa  art  I  know:    and  what  I  am 
Thoti  knowest — and  yet  thoti  knowest  not. 

GIORGIO 

Holiest  sire» 
Last  night  I  kept  my  boat  on  Tiber — Sire, 
The  thing  I  saw  was  nothing  of  my  dzzd — 
It  shook  me  out  of  sleep  to  see  it — Lord, 
Have  mercy:    look  not  so  upon  me. 
[41] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Dog, 

Speak,  while  thy  tongue  is  thine. 

GIORGIO 

Two  men  came  down 
And  peered  along  the  water-side:    and  two 
Came  after — men  whose  eyes  raked  all  the  night, 
Searching  the  shore — I  lay  beneath  my  boat — 
Beside  it  on  the  darkling  side — and  saw. 
Then  came  a  horseman — Sire,  his  horse  was  white — 
The  moonshine  made  his  mane  like  dtill  white  fire — 
And  on  his  crttpper  heavily  hting  a  corpse, 
Arms  held  from  swaying  on  this  side,  legs  on  that, 
I  know  not  which  on  either — but  the  men 
Held  fast  that  held:    and  hard  on  Tiber  side 
They  swung  the  crupper   toward   the  water — sharp 
And  swift  as  man  may  steer  a  horse — and  caught 
And  slung  their  dead  into  the  stream:    and  he 
Drifted,  and  caught  the  moon  across  his  face 
[42] 


THE   DUKE    OF   GANDIA 

That  shone  like  life  against  it:    and  the  chief 
Till  then  sat  silent  as  the  moon  at  watch, 
And  then  bade  hurl  stones  on  the  drifting  dead 
And  sink  him  o«t  of  sight;    and  seeing  this  done. 
Rode  thence,  and  they  strode  after, 

ALEXANDER 

Man,  and  thou — 
Tho«? 

GIORGIO 

Sire,  I  set  my  heart  again  to  sleep: 
I  turned  and  slept  ttnder  my  boatside. 

ALEXANDER 

Man — 
Dog — devil,  if  this  be  trtrth,  and  if  my  fear 
Lie  not — how  hadst  thoo  heart  to  hold  thy  peace? 
How  comes  it  that  the  warders  of  the  shore 
[43] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Knew  not  of  thee,  while  yet  the  crime  was  hot, 
What  crime  had  made  night  hell? 


GIORGIO 

A  thousand  times 
I  have  seen  such  sights,  bat  never  till  this  hour 
Seen  him  who  cared  to  hear  of  them. 


ALEXANDER 

Till  now. 
Never.    He  looks  in  God's  mute  face  and  mine. 
And  says  it.    God  be  good  to  me  I    But  God 
Will  not — or  is  not.     Where  is  then  thy  dead. 
Devil,  called  of  God  from  hell  to  smite — to  scourge- 
Me? 

GIORGIO 

Sire,  at  hand  I  left  Iiim. 
[44] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Stir  not.    Bid 
Thy  fellows  bring  my  dead  before  me.    [Exit  Officer* 

Nay, 
Bat  mine  it  is  not  yet — it  may  not  be 
Mine — while  it  may  not  be,  it  is  not.     Child, 
It  shall  not  be  thy  brother.    Pray  no  prayer. 
Prayer  never  yet  brought  profit.    Be  not  pale. 
Fear  strikes  more  deep  into  the  fearfwl  heart 
The  wound  it  heals  not. 

Enter  Officers  <with  the  body  of  FRANCESCO 

What  is  he  they  bring? 
O  God  I    Thott  livest!    And  my  child  is  dead  I 

[Falls, 


SCENE    IV 
The  Vatican 

Alexander  and  C^sar 

ALEXANDER 
Thoo  hast  done  this  deed. 


C^SAR 

ThotJ  hast  said  it. 

ALEXANDER 

Dost  thotj  think 


To  live,  and  look  upon  me? 
[47] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

C^SAR 

Some  while  yet, 

ALEXANDER 
I  would  there  were  a  God — that  he  might  hear. 

CiESAR 
'Tis  pity  there  should  be — for  thy  sake — none* 

ALEXANDER 
Wilt  thou  slay  me? 

C^SAR 
Why? 

ALEXANDER 

Am  not  I  thy  sire? 
[48] 


THE    DUKE    OF   GANDIA 

C^SAR 
And  Christendom's  to  boot* 


ALEXANDER 

I  pray  thee,  man, 

C^SAR 


Slay  me* 


And  then  myself?    Thou  art  crazed,  but  I 
Sane* 

ALEXANDER 

Art  thou  very  flesh  and  blood? 

C^SAR 

They  say. 
Thine. 

[49] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

If  the  heaven  stand  still  and  smite  thee  not. 
There  is  no  God  indeed, 

C^SAR 

Nor  thoti  nor  I 
Know, 

ALEXANDER 

I  could  pray  to  God  that  God  might  be. 
Were  I  but  mad.    Thou  sayest  I  am  mad:  thou  liest: 
I  do  not  pray, 

C^SAR 

Most  holiest  father,  no. 
Thy  brain  is  not  so  sick  yet.    Thou  and  God 
Friends?    Man,  how  long  would  God  have  let  thee 

live — 
Thee? 

[50] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Long  enotigh  he  hath  kept  me,  to  behold 
His  face  as  fire — if  his  it  be — and  earth 
As  hell — and  thee,  begotten  of  my  loins, 
Satan. 

C^SAR 

The  first-frttits  of  thy  fatherhood 
Were  something  less  than  Satan.    Man  of  God, 
Vattnt  not  thyself. 

ALEXANDER 

I  would  I  had  died  in  the  womb. 

C^SAR 

Thou  shaft  do  better,  dying  in  Peter's  chair: 
Thou  shaft  die  famous. 

[51] 


THE 

'^iiJViiRSITY 

OF 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

Ay;  no  screen  from  that. 
No  shelter,  no  forgetf«Iness  on  earth. 
We  shall  be  famed  forever.    Hell  and  night. 
Cover  me! 

C-ESAR 

Hast  thow  heard  that  prayers  are  heard? 
Or  hast  thou  known  earth,  for  a  man's  cry's  sake. 
Cleave,  and  devour  him? 

ALEXANDER 

I  have  done  this  thing. 
Thou  hast  not  done  it:  thy  deed  is  none  of  thine: 
Upon  my  hand,  upon  my  head,  the  blood 
Rests. 

CiESAR 

Wilt  thou  sleep  the  worse  for  this  next  year? 
152] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

I  will  not  live  a  seven  days*  space  beyond 
This. 

C^SAR 

Thow  hast  lived  thy  seven  days*  space  in  hell. 
Father:   they  say  thou  hast  fasted  even  from  sleep. 

ALEXANDER 

Ay. 

C^SAR 

What  they  say  and  what  thoti  sayest  I  hold 
False.     Though  thou  hast  wept  as  woman,  howled 

as  wolf. 
Above  our  dead,  thou  art  hale  and  whole.     And  now 
Behoves  thee  rise  again  as  Christ  our  God, 
Vicarious  Christ,  and  cast  as  flesh  away 
[53] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 


This  grief  from  off  thy  godhead.     I  and  thou. 
One,  will  set  hand  as  never  God  hath  set 
To  the  empire  and  the  steerage  of  the  world. 
Do  thott  forget  but  him  who  is  dead,  and  was 
Nought,  and  bethink  thee  what  a  world  to  wield 
The  eternal  God  hath  given  into  thine  hands 
Wtiich  daily  mould  him  out  of  bread,  and  give 
His  kneaded  flesh  to  feed  on.     Thou  and  I 
Will  make  this  rent  and  ruinous  Italy 
One.     Ours  it  shall  be,  body  and  soul,  and  great 
Above  all  power  and  glory  given  of  God 
To  them  that  died  to  set  thee  where  thou  art — 
Throned  on  the  dust  of  Caesar  and  of  Christ, 
Imperial.     Earth  shall  quail  again,  and  rise 
Again  the  higher  because  she  trembled.    Rome 
So  bade  it  be:    it  was,  and  shall  be. 


ALEXANDER 

Son, 


Art  thou  my  son? 

[54] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

C^SAR 

Whom  should  thy  radiant  Rose 
Have  fotind  so  fit  to  ingraff  with,  and  bring  forth 
So  strong  a  scion  as  I  am? 


ALEXANDER 

By  my  faith — 
"Wherein,  I  know  not — ^by  my  so«I,  if  that 
Be — I  believe  it.     God  forgot  his  doom 
When  he  tho«  hast  slain  drew  breath  before  thee. 


CiESAR 

God 
Mttst  needs  forget — if  God  remember.     Now 
This  tiling  thott  hast  loved,  and  I  that  swept  him 

hence 
Held  never  fit  for  hate  of  mine,  is  dead, 
[55] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

Wilt  thow  be  one  with  me — one  God?    No  less, 
Lord  Christ  of  Rome,  thoti  wilt  be. 

ALEXANDER 

Ay?    The  Dove? 

CiESAR 

What  dove,  though  lovelier  than  the  swan  that  Itired 
Leda  to  love  of  God  on  earth,  might  match 
Lticrezia? 

ALEXANDER 

None.    ThotJ  art  subtle  of  so«I  and  strong. 
I  would  thou  hadst  spared  him — couldst  have  spared 
him. 

C^SAR 

Sire, 
I  would  so  too.     Our  sire,  his  sire  and  mine, 
[56] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

I  slew  not  him  for  lust  of  slaying,  or  hate, 
Or  aoght  less  like  thy  wiser  spirit  and  mine. 

ALEXANDER 
Not  for  the  dove's  sake? 

CiESAR 

Not  for  hate  or  love. 
Death  was  the  lot  God  bade  him  draw,  if  God 
Be  more  than  what  we  make  him. 

ALEXANDER 

Bread  and  wine 
Could  hardly  turn  so  bitter.     Canst  thou  sleep? 

C2ESAR 

Dost  thou  not?    Flesh  must  sleep  to  live.    Am  I 
No  son  of  thine? 

[57] 


THE   DUKE   OF   GANDIA 

ALEXANDER 

I  would  I  saw  thine  end, 
And  mine:   and  yet  I  woald  not. 


C^SAR 


Sire,  good-night. 
[Exetttit, 


THE  END 


.   ;£iR3lTY 

.    OF 


UNIVERSITY   OP   CALIFORNIA 
LIBRARY 

This  is  the  date  on  which  this 
book  was  charged  out. 


1912 


U6  10  1926 


[30m-6,'ll] 


:iiH| 


